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In January 1904 tragedy struck the Cleveland household when the family’s eldest daughter, Ruth, died from diphtheria. “I had a season of great trouble in keeping out of my mind the idea that Ruth was in the cold, cheerless grave instead of in the arms of her Savior,” wrote Cleveland. In time, however, his faith reasserted itself. God had come to his help, Cleveland told intimates, enabling him “to adjust my thought to dear Ruth’s death with as much comfort as selfish humanity will permit.”

Another kind of crisis engulfed the grieving parent as Wilson and Dean West clashed over West’s proposal for a new graduate college at Princeton. Cleveland aligned himself with the tradition-loving dean, leading to an estrangement between the once and future presidents. As Cleveland lay on his death bed in the spring of 1908, he summoned West to reiterate his support for the dean’s plans. “Hang on to it like a bulldog,” the dying Cleveland told West, “no matter what is done to you.” By then he had come to regard Wilson as thoroughly unreliable.

For his part, the beleaguered Wilson declared that Cleveland was “a better president of the United States than a trustee of Princeton.” It was a sad climax to their once promising friendship, and a preview of Wilson’s unyielding stand a decade later on the League of Nations.

—RNS

Benjamin Harrison

Buried: Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana

Twenty-third President - 1889-1893

Born: August 20, 1833, in North Bend, Ohio

Died: 4:45 p.m. on March 13, 1901, in Indianapolis, Indiana

Age at death: 67

Cause of death: Pneumonia

Final words: “Are the doctors here?”

“Doctor, …my lungs”

Admission to Crown Hill Cemetery: Free

Benjamin Harrison, grandson of ninth president William Henry Harrison, served his single term between the two terms of Grover Cleveland. In the 1888 election, Harrison actually lost to Republican Cleveland in the popular vote, but won the majority of the electoral votes. His term saw the admission of six states to the union and the addition of electric lights to the White House.

Caroline Harrison, the new president’s wife, began the tradition of displaying a White House Christmas tree as her husband’s first year in office drew to a close. After supervising major renovations to the executive mansion, she died of tuberculosis during his reelection campaign.

After losing his second bid for the presidency in 1892, Benjamin Harrison began an active second career as a lawyer, writer, and professor. He also remarried at age sixty-two to Mary Dimmick, a niece of his late wife who had worked as an assistant to the First Lady.

Benjamin Harrison’s tomb

In March of 1901 at age sixty-seven, Harrison took ill at his home in Indianapolis. A simple case of the flu turned into pneumonia. Harrison did not respond to various treatments and on March 12 lapsed in and out of a coma. His relatives and closest friends gathered by his bedside. At about 4:45 p.m. on March 13, 1901, Benjamin Harrison died.

On March 16, Harrison’s body was taken to lie in state in the rotunda of the Indiana state capitol. A small private service was performed at his home the next day. A larger funeral was held at the First Presbyterian Church where Harrison had been a member for nearly fifty years. Citizens lined up outside more than two hours before the service began. Mourners inside spilled over into the aisles, and the altar overflowed with roses, lilies, and violets. The church choir sang “Rock of Ages,” reportedly the late president’s favorite hymn—and the only one he ever tried to sing. President William McKinley was in attendance and members of Harrison’s cabinet served as honorary pallbearers.

Benjamin Harrison was buried beside his first wife, Carrie, at Crown Hill Memorial Cemetery in Indianapolis. At the graveside service, three white carnations were placed on top of the walnut casket. The casket, enclosed in a granite tomb, was lowered into the ground to the sounds of cannon fire.